


Good Night and Good Luck

by bessemerprocess



Category: Countdown RPF, Pundit & Broadcast Journalist RPF (US), Real News RPF, SportsCenter RPF, The Rachel Maddow Show RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, ESPN 80s AU, FNFF SeSa 2009, Funeral, Grief, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, SportsCenter, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-16
Updated: 2010-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-06 08:50:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/pseuds/bessemerprocess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And that's it for SportsCenter tonight, folks," Rachel Maddow says. "Good night and good luck!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Night and Good Luck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lady_sci_fi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=lady_sci_fi).



> Written for FNFF SeSa 2009 for the prompt: Keith/Dan Patrick or Keith/Dan/Rachel, H/C. Warning: more hurt than comfort.

"And that's it for SportsCenter tonight, folks," Rachel Maddow says. "Good night and good luck!"

Usually that's Keith's line, or Murrow's really, but either way, neither of them are here and Dan can't say it, so Rachel does.

Good night and good luck.

***

Rachel has been in and out of Keith and Dan's bed quite a few times over the last decade. There were years that the three of them were just so self referential it would have hurt to sleep with an outsider. Just as common, though, were the years where Rachel and Keith had slept their way through the WNBA as Dan stood back and rolled his eyes. Keith always went back to Dan, though, and Rachel always went back to Keith, so she's not surprised when Keith waves her over after the show and invites her back to his place.

Keith and Dan have separate apartments. Everyone sort of expected Rachel to be gay, but it's not something guys in sports can be out about easily. Not even guys as famous as Keith and Dan; especially not guys as famous as Keith and Dan. So they keep separate apartments, bring separate women to parties, and drive separate cars. And they drag Rachel around after them. Gay men in sports may be bad for ratings, but it's believable. That the stars of ESPN's SportsCenter have been having a threesome on and off for almost two decades is just absurd.

It's true, though.

Rachel gets to Keith's after Dan does because she's been tasked with picking up dinner. When dinner is habitually at 2 am, you get to know the closing time of every takeout place in town really well. Either that, or you learn to cook. None of them is very inclined to cook, so it's Thai tonight, Keith's favorite.

Dan has a game muted on the television machine, and he and Keith are arguing about whether forks or chopsticks are more appropriate when Rachel walks in. She's had her own key since the day Keith moved in.

Dan stops mid sentence, rolls his eyes at Keith and gives Rachel a kiss of the cheek. "He's in a mood tonight."

Rachel hands over the bag of food. "You're always in a mood, aren't you, Keith?"

Keith smiles and comes over to wrap her in a hug. "There's food," he says, and then kisses her on the top of her head. "Don't want it to get cold."

Keith will talk when he wants to talk, so Rachel lets it go after a shared look with Dan. If Dan's not worried, she's not worried: Dan is the sanest one of them all. When he panics, she knows it's time for her to panic too.

They sit in front of the television to eat--Dan and Rachel with chopsticks, Keith with a fork. The game flips over to a rerun of them, and Dan changes the channel. Keith will sit and watch them over and over, dissecting each wobble, and so they have a deal: they don't watch themselves together. The channel gets changed to a rerun of Texas versus Texas Tech.

"I have to have surgery," Keith says out of the blue. Dan freezes, chopsticks halfway to his mouth, and Rachel turns to stare at Keith. "I went to the doctor's and they found a mass on my liver. It's not cancer, just a mass." Keith gets the whole explanation out without looking at either of them. "It's not a big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal," Dan says.

"When?" Rachel asks at the same time.

"Friday."

"Keith."

"I didn't want to think about it," Keith says.

He leans over and kisses Dan. "Come to bed with me," he says, before leaning the other direction and kissing Rachel.

They tumble in to the bedroom together, leaving a trail of clothes behind them.

***

Dan hates hospitals. Rachel can tell from the way he's pacing, fingers drumming a staccato rhythm against his thigh as he turns. It's not as bad as when Keith ran into the subway. That had been terrifying; no one ever wants to hear the words 'brain damage.' They'd gotten through that--Dan and Rachel and a cold, white waiting room--and Keith had been mostly fine. This time will be the same.

"Sit down," Rachel says, forcing her voice to be calm. Dan does. She offers her hand, and he takes it like a lifeline. He's known Keith longer, but she's known Keith for more of her life. It doesn't matter; they both love him and he is in surgery where there is nothing they can do for him but wish and hope.

It seems like eons before the doctor comes to lead them to the recovery room. Keith is groggy, but he's awake, and they hurry to his bed, smiling and joyous.

"You'll take any excuse for a vacation, won't you, KO?" Dan says, and Keith smiles.

"Y'know I will," Keith slurs.

"Jailbait was worried, but I knew you would be too damn stubborn for anything less than the Steeler's entire defensive line to take you out."

"Hey, Keith," Rachel says, ignoring Dan.

"I'm just fine," Keith says, squeezing her hand.

***

Rachel is sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair, with her head resting against Keith's arm when the monitors go off. Dan is up and awake and screaming for help before Rachel can even figure out what is going on.

The doctors push them out of the room as the monitors continue to wail and Keith lies unresponsive. She can hear the doctors yelling, but the world is stuck in slow motion, and so she focus on Dan, because he's the only thing that can be real to her right now. He's trying to fight off an orderly, trying to make it back to Keith.

"Dan," she says, and her voice sounds funny in her ears. "Dan," she tries again, louder this time.

He looks over at her and then slumps against the orderly. "Oh."

Rachel holds out a hand and Dan comes to her, and they stand there together, watching as the doctors try to save Keith's life. Once again, they are helpless, and this time there isn't a happy ending.

"I'm sorry for your loss," the doctor says. He'd offered his name at some point, but Rachel doesn't remember, doesn't care. "Mr. Olbermann threw a clot and it made its way to his brain. There was nothing we could do."

She doesn't remember what happens next, just the sound of static in her ears for a long time.

***

They stand next to each other at the funeral: Dan's arm holding her to him, like he's afraid to lose that one last precious thing he has. It's funny, they had hated each other at first. Dan had called her Jailbait, had insinuated she was going to be the death of Keith's career. She had kicked him once, in the shins. She'd been younger then, and more impulsive, but she can't remember what he'd done to piss her off now.

Afterward, people wander off, leaving them alone at the graveside. They stand there in silence for a moment. Then Rachel tugs Dan to sit crosslegged next to the coffin. It's held there just above the hole in which Keith will rest forever and that thought makes Rachel's stomach roll. The soil will ruin their suits, but she doesn't care. She needs to sit here, now, and be with Keith one last time.

***

It's late when they get back to Keith's. They don't talk about it, just follow muscle memory to his door. She manages to lock the door behind her before Dan kisses her, all pain and grief. She kicks off her shoes and kisses him back. His lips are chapped from the wind and so are hers. Neither of them cares; they just continue to shed clothing in the few moments they can manage to not touch one another.

Keith's bed is unmade. They've been sleeping here together, ever since, and Dan had scared the cleaning service off yesterday. Dan rolls on top of her, but all she can smell is Keith. If she closes her eyes, she can imagine he is here, kneeling just off to the side, watching Dan suck his way down her body--throat, clavicle, breast, the curve of her ribs, the hollow of her thigh--all the way to her clit. She moans under Dan's tongue and imagines Keith's grin; he had always liked watching her come undone. She comes thinking of Keith.

***

It's their first night back on television since Keith died. Dan makes it to the second C break before turning to Robbie and saying, "Keith will..." He stops when his ears register what his mouth has said, and his face goes so pale, Rachel thinks he's going to faint. She and Robbie manage to cover, and Dan dashes off stage just in time to throw up in a trashcan in the control room.

He comes back for the second half, his voice breaking Rachel's heart over and over. He's supposed to have the sign off tonight.

"This has been SportsCenter," he says, before freezing again. She looks at him like she's never looked at him on the air before--love and pain and sorrow all wrapped up into one glance--and takes his hand.

"And that's it for Sports Center tonight, folks," she says. Keith's words are like lead on her tongue, but she manages as Dan squeezes her hand. "Good night and good luck."


End file.
